How to Make a Thankful Turkey

Gather your friends and family, take a leftover pumpkin or gourd and make a featherless turkey. Then,once your guests arrive write what you are thankful for. Each note of thanks becomes a feather, and your beautifully-plumed turkey will make a heartfelt and fun centerpiece for the table!

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Select a large pom-pom to be your turkey's head. Place it on top of a glue dot. Peel the glue dot off (with the pom-pom still attached) and place it on the stem or top of your pumpkin where you would like the turkey head to be.

Step 2:

Just as you did with the pom-pom, stick each of your googly eyes on to a glue dot. Peel the glue dot off (with the eye attached) and place it on the pom-pom.

Step 3:

Cut out a beak and wattle from construction paper. Apply a glue dot to both items and glue them on the pumpkin.

Step 4:

Now that you have a wonderful turkey head, it's time to decorate! With a Sharpie or other permanent marker you can draw feathers on your turkey's chest, sides, and back.

Step 5:

To finish prepping your Thankful Turkey for your gathering, you need to make a few pilot holes in the turkey's backside. Taking your thin nail and hammer, tap the nail into the pumpkin. Make a shallow hole, then remove the nail. Repeat until you have enough holes so that each feather can fit into one!

Step 6:

Using our free template, trace and cut out a series of paper feathers on your construction paper. You can either trace a feather or teardrop shape, or fold your paper in half and trace a half-teardrop shape away from the crease.

Step 7:

Encourage everyone to think of something they're thankful for, and write it down on one of your construction-paper feathers.

Step 8:

Take the written-on feathers and glue or tape them to a toothpick, skewer, or pipe cleaner. Make sure that about 2 inches of the skewer sticks down below the feather. If your skewers or pipe cleaners are longer than 4 inches, just cut them with scissors ahead of time.

Step 9:

Insert your feathers into the holes you made with the nail ahead of time.

Step 10:

The more thanks you give, the more feathers you make, the more beautiful your turkey is! Be sure to display it prominently so everyone can see what you're thankful for!